If I were (notice the subjunctive mood) a superstitious kind of guy, this might bother me a tad…
*heh*
Obama’s Poll Numbers Tanking
From latest Rasmussen data,
“Obama’s Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth”
Polling data show that Mr. Obama’s approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama’s net presidential approval rating — which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve — is just six, his lowest rating to date.
Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president’s performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.
(More at the link.)
Well, about time the sheeple woke up and smelled the cyanide tea. One can only hope that when The One’s polling numbers actually hit dirtside, they keep going down to the very depths of hell. Seriously. Because, while I wish him success as president, I most certainly do NOT see success in the office entailing the success of his agenda. Only if his agenda fails will history judge him to be a success as president.
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Smarter Than Your Average Norwegian?
OK, no Norwegian jokes, please; I’m married to My Favorite Norwegian (OK, so she’s 100% American, but everyone in her family back umpteen generations is Norwegian, so again, no Norwegian jokes). Swedish jokes are fine, though.*
Oh, what’s with mentioning Norway and Norwegians at all? That’s where Opera browser comes from, folks: Norway. And the folks who build this lil browser are smarter than your average M$IE coders, IMO, and quite likely smarter than your average Norwegian, too. They’ve figured out how to make giving away the best browser on the planet make money, for one thing, but it’s the “best browser on the planet” that interest me.
And they’re doing it again–making some serious waves with Opera Turbo, a feature that’s strictly in the preliminary testing phase but which is also just as cool as can be in addressing a huge concern for mobile users or indeed any user with a slow connection.
See the video here or check the text intro here. A snippet:
Opera Turbo is a cross-platform solution, available for desktop computers, mobile phones, and other Internet-enabled devices. By compressing network traffic by up to 80%, Opera Turbo helps to enable the sustainability and scalability of networks in order to meet traffic demands and ensure a superior browsing experience.
Now, while my nominal download speed is usually in excess of 3mbs, I know lots of folks who would benefit from this. Heck, most DSL users would benefit from it, as slow as DSL quite often is.
It’s still in development, but you can download a time-limited test version and try it out if you wish.
Update: Well, I’m using the “time-limited test version” of Opera 10 Turbo right now, and even on my nominal (usual) 3mbit cable connection it’s noticeably faster loading pages. Really snappy! Since I’ve been using the snapshots of the Opera 10 alpha for daily use for the past month or so, it’s really comparing apples to apples when I compare the newest alpha snapshot without Turbo to the newest alpha snapshot with Turbo.
Seriously nice.
Differences? Notsomuch
I’ve met some Obamabots–even here in America’s Third World County where Democrats, let alone dyed-in-the-wool Dhimmicraps, are scarcer than hens’ teeth–recently that have caused me to go back and examine some stereotypes.
But first, a fore-word: before you get the wrong idea (even though I know it’s probably too late for that), stereotypes are good things, as long as we know we use them as shortcuts, as models based on a reality that is far more complex than the most accurate model can be. Stereotypes exist because a great preponderance of a certain class of objects or persons share characteristics that make them a class. We could substitute “class” for “stereotype” except that stereotypes embody more data than we can actually weight classes with via objective criteria–data derived from firsthand, subjective interaction with objects or persons. Now, because it is subjective interaction that adds the stereotyping, it involves a certain amount of projection, and therein lies the danger of stereotyping: if the emotional projection isn’t consciously recognized and analyzed for its qualitative values, for what it both contributes to or detracts from the observations leading to the development of ones own stereotypes, then one runs the danger of having models that aren’t very useful.
That said, my model, if you want to put the word “stereotypes” on the shelf, of contemporary faux liberals and those who support their agendas as falling into two general classes–the truly, wittingly evil and the stupidly, lazily evil–has held up fairly well in my encounters with Obamabots.
“Evil?!?” you may screech. Yep. You see, it doesn’t matter one damned plugged nickel whether a contemporary faux liberal (or a faux liberal enabler) such as Obama or his coterie of Chicago-style, (mostly) corrupt, socialist hangers-on have “good” intentions or just normal, Chicago-style, (mostly) corrupt, socialist genuinely evil intentions, because the end result of their behavior is evil.
Yes, evil. For they are intent–even the most stupidly altruistic of them–on dictating YOUR “best interests” as they see them, instead of allowing you the freedom to make those decisions on your own or with counsel of your own choosing. And that–compelling behavior to comply with THEIR ideology that the state is the fount of all that is good and that THEY, the self-anointed enlightened, decide what is good for you, the poor benighted idiot who does not belong to their club–is indeed evil.
Not even the God they so frequently rail against is that tyrannical. He has simply pointed out Good and Evil and said that Good will lead to Him while evil will lead to eternal death. Make your own choice and live–or die–with it. The statists who disingenuously call themselves liberals want to make your choices for you. Free will? Nope. That’s out, along with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
To any who call yourself “liberal” or “progressive” let me offer you this: when you can show me–using facts and reason, not whiny faux-victim bleats–that denying free political speech to someone because his speech offends some hypersensitive whiny rabbit is a genuinely liberal act, then we can start discussing what’s right or wrong with the “philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide” that is contemporary so-called liberalism/progressivism.
As far as I can see, there is no real difference between the evil results of those faux liberals who know the evil they are doing and those faux liberals (and their enablers) who intend to do good but simply are too lazy (morally and intellectually) to think things through.
“By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:16)
Oh, and another lil question for any faux liberal who might wander by: When, oh when, will you and your ilk articulate an exit strategy for the quagmire you’ve unconstitutionally stuck the country in with your “War on Poverty”–the fruits of which have been advancing illiteracy, more poverty, and worse? Oh, right. To a faux liberal those are all good things, because they form a pretext for the government, at your behest, to do more harm.
Almost Too Much Fun!
Saw a link to this at Jerry Pournelle’s and I just can’t NOT post it. Milesof detcord, tons of high explosives and… Rossini! Yeh! Fun!
ConLaw 101
The first principle in understanding any document has to address, “What is the author attempting to communicate” What does the author understand his own words to mean?” In other words, first examine the language used, its cultural and historical context and, if possible, what the author himself (or “authors themselves”) has to say in other places about what the document means. In the case of the Constitution, none of these issues is at all unclear. We have abundant sources of the Framers themselves explaining what they meant; we also have abundant records of the cultural/historical/linguistic context.* Thus, no understanding of the Constitution that does not at least address what the Framers actually understood it to mean is worthy of acknowledgement.
Let me use one small example and illustrate a loose, casual argument that might legitimately stem from it:
Article III, Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
Notice that pesky pronoun? “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them… ” Oh, dear. That rather places Mr Lincoln and others who have argued for the supremacy of the federal government (and the nullification of the ninth and tenth amendments which sought to clarify and make certain the limits already imposed on the federal government) on the wrong side of the Framers, doesn’t it?
In the aftermath of the Obscene Congress Bill (also disingenuously known as the “stimulus” bill) and Porkulous, there’re efforts afoot in several States (at least 10, although perhaps as many as 30 are expected to consider such resolutions/bills by years’ end) to further emphasize the principle of State nullification of federal action that exceeds constitutional authority.
And what, just pondering possibilities here, just what might come about if 38 (or 40) States were to do so? And what if–just what if–an increasingly overreaching “feddle gummint” were to be percieved by those States as acting in inimical fashion toward those States? After all, when 61 senators openly declare their disdain for the Constitution and for States’ rights, what can that be BUT “levying war against them”–or at least declaring war? These senators not only openly violated their oaths of office, but arguably committed acts of treason with their votes.
Sure, that may be a stretch, but it’s a reasonable stretch when their acts are in open defiance of the Constitution–acts that have negative implications for individual States and the Union as a whole. And what does it say of the supporters of these who have openly made of themselves enemies of the States? Well, if you are a supporter of any of the senators who voted to dilute the representation of the various States by including a NON-State in congressional representation, then would that not constitute “giving them aid and comfort”?
And what of a president–any president; I had my issues with GWB–who acts in ways to violate the compact that forms the union between the various States? Again, such a president makes of himself an enemy of those States, and anyone who supports such a president’s unconstitutional agenda arguably commits treason against the union of States.
And double ditto squared for judges who usurp authority and make extra-constitutional impositions upon the States and their people.
Now, this is just a small taste of what may (I hope) become one of the many areas of open argument in coming days, as the minions of Satan, urm, Dhimmicraps and other Obamabots seek to implement their overarching hybrid of socialist/communist/post-modernist Hivemind statist agenda.
See:
And search on “Tenth Amendment” and “resolutions reclaiming state sovereignty” for more information, just to start.
But, just a simple reading of the Constitution, stressing just what is already and openly well-known to any literate person (as opposed to almost any pubschool “edumacated”–or more properly, brainwashed–person) of what the Framers actually said, has the potential to turn our meddling “feddle gummint” on its head and perhaps even give a bit of power back to the People.
Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Leaning Straight Up, Political Byline, Conservative Cat, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
*In biblical exegesis, this process is known as historical/literary criticism and has a long history or legitimate use–even well before the nineteenth century liberal theology brouhaha–in theological circles. Heck, in literary circles, it’s also had a long hisotry of legitimate use, though nowadays its use has been deprecated by deconstructuralists who simply want to project their own views onto a text with only the thinnest-veiled excuses (in theological circles that’s called “eisegesis” or “reading into” the text as opposed to exegesis, reading what is actually IN the text).
Enjoying MediaPortal
Here’s a pic of one nice feature in MediaPortal: “My Weather”. Despite the cutesy *gag* name of the feature, it’s really nearly as useful in some ways and more useful in others than the default weather applet in Ubuntu, and MUCH better than such buggy and intrusive things as Weatherbug (*gagamaggot* I hate that thing).
Nice. Good data (I actually know the guys who manage the local weather stations–have been “hands on” with one of their dedicated weather computers) presented attractively in the easily-recognized Weather Channel format–for my lil Third World County town. Yep. That’s third world county central info. Edges it just past the Ubuntu default weather applet that can’t report any data closer than 30 miles away.
As I said, nice.
Now, if only MEdiaPortal didn’t crash evwery time I try to minimize it normally. Oh, well, if I use “Show the Desktop” it doesn’t crash, so there’s a kludge-around. Hey! The thing’s just in a newly-released 1.0.0 version (although an upgrade/patch to 1.1.0 is projected for… this coming Saturday), so I’m just pleased that it works better than M$’s Media Center on my hardware/locale situation.
Grading The One
The libtards at MSNBC must be in a tizzy. The results so far on their poll asking folks to grade The One’s performance to date aren’t turning out so well for their Anointed One:
Go. Contribute to The Grading of The One
h.t. to The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Investorblogger Dot Com, Political Byline, The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Trenchant Observation
Jerry Pournelle can be relied upon to condense a complex thought into a pithy statement:
Globalization made what industry we kept very efficient. The rest of the economy consisted of opening containers of goods and consuming them, then paying for them by borrowing money and flipping real estate. Water runs downhill but it was never supposed to hit bottom.
Well, has the water hit bottom yet?
Playing Around With HTPC Stuff
While I’ve not got an antenna attached for FM radio, after playing around with media center apps in both Ubuntu and Win7, I have to give the edge in media center/home theater pc stuff to Windows. TV only “sorta” worked in Ubuntu. The much ballyhooed MythTV and other options–including MythBuntu, LinucMCE, etc.–for integrating TV/Radio/Video/Music into PC use are just too much like work to get ’em functional and too rough-edged to boot, even when they do work. Kudoes for great effort on the Linux side, marks down for actual accomplishment.
On the Windows side… *sigh* I could wish everything Just Worked out of the box, but “it ain’t necessarily so” as the song goes. Windows Media Center… what can I say? I don’t like its look and feel, but that’s just my idiosyncratic response. What killed it for me was that while everything BUT one thing worked pretty well, that one thing was… setting up TV. Yep. Every Single Time I got to the channel download the thing choked. Bah.
Hauppauge’s own WinTV apps almost got TV working. Got further than Windows Media Center, at least. But still, no joy.
GBPVR looked promising but stumbled getting out the gate with Win7–“wrong OS” or some such error.
Tried several other non-solutions and then hit on MediaPortal, an outgrowth of the XBMC project. Now, XBMC isn’t suited to tuning TV or FM radio, although it does all the other media center things one might want and will (when I get another Round Toit) serve well as a media director in the old XBox I have half-modded to use it, but I wanted to tune TV (and later FM radio) on this box, so I tried MediaPortal.
MediaPortal Just Works. Oh, there’re more than a few rough edges. Scanning for channels found all the channels I wanted, and they previewed just fine in the scan, but when I tried tuning them initially, some would not tune in. (“Search the forums for solutions” time… ) The manual? Just fine. IF everything goes without a hitch. No real problem solving–or acknowledgement of issues–in the manual. Managing the settings isn’t intuitive, so a better manual would be a help.
Still, I marked “TV working on PC” off my list before my “work day” started this a.m. I’ll get into the whole “time shifting” thing later.
MediaPortal: not ready for Aunt Tilly but definitely a workable solution.